[To clarify: I'm not looking to find cheap games to play. I am simply curious if anybody plays/enjoys these $0.99 (base price) games I see on Steam and in bundles all the time.]

So like some others, I'm getting tired of the influx of crappy, one-dollar (USD) shovelware that is flooding the Steam store lately (and seem to find their way OtakuBundle right away). Although I'll generally at least click on the store link before I set "Not Interested" in Steam and "Hide this giveaway" in Steamgifts, I'm starting to form the opinion that maybe I'll never want to play a one dollar game. I'd actually be more likely to play a free game (there are lots of good ones out there), and I've played some good two dollar games also-- I'm hardly somebody who only plays AAA games (just the opposite, really).

In my case, with very few exceptions, I don't really go for pixel graphics, RPGMaker, clicker, or achievement-farming games...and that would seem to account for a good number of one dollar games, as it turns out.

So-- recommend your favorite one dollar games to the Steamgifts community. What diamonds in the rough are there? Are there any nice, story-rich games out there? Any really fun arcade games or point-and-clicks? Any strategy games? Do any of these games not make your eyes bleed?

In the spirit of the topic, here are a few one dollar games for you (level 2) [ENDED]. The only reason I added the basic SGTools check is so that I don't have to contact support before and after key redemption to check activation for those folks who don't have a public games library. It seems silly to protect these games with SGTools, but the new privacy settings are forcing my hand.

5 years ago*

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Have you played and really enjoyed any one dollar games?

View Results
Yes, actually quite often
Yes, from time to time
Maybe once, if ever?
Definitely not, they're all pretty much shovelware
I've never played a one dollar game

RESERVED

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Weird...that site has my work location IP blocked.
But for what it's worth, I'm not looking for super cheap or bundled games. I am simply curious if anybody plays/enjoys these $0.99 games I see on Steam and in bundles all the time.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Synonymy is $1.99 in the Steam store. ;-)

5 years ago
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It's been on sale on steam for less than a dollar...

5 years ago
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Many great games have been on sale for less than a dollar. Marlow Briggs was just on sale for $0.50, and I had a dozen hours of fun with it. But this post specifically asks about games whose base price is $0.99, thus ruling out Synonymy and Marlow Briggs.

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Hyper Bounce Blast is often selling for less than 1$ on the steam Store.
It's just a well thought out Arcade game. That manages to mix in some bullet hell hectic gameplay

5 years ago
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Thank you for the suggestion, but I'm not looking for a recommendation for cheap games to play. I am simply curious if anybody plays/enjoys these $0.99 games I see on Steam and in bundles all the time.

5 years ago
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So-- recommend your favorite one dollar games to the Steamgifts community

ok i definitely didn't understand this thread then, i thought this was the SG community.
to be more clear, i only shared the discount price so it would fit in that criteria.

My answer is yes btw

5 years ago
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LOL, that would be a much more useful thread!
I was just curious if people play and enjoy these $1 games.

5 years ago
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Defy Gravity Extended. It's a nice little platformer with great and relaxing background music. I haven't played it in ages but it was the first thing that popped up in my mind.
The concept of the game is to maneuver by shooting orbs that either attract or repel the player. It starts off pretty simple but gets harder as the game progresses. But the thing i liked the most was the relaxing background music, combined with space backgrounds.

5 years ago
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Yeah, I remember looking at that game...it didn't look so bad-- certainly not "shovelware." It wasn't enough for me to get the game (heh), but it looked like a decent game.

5 years ago
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I liked that game too. It came to mind as soon as I saw the title of your post

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Hook! I actually played that game and enjoyed it! I have to change my own poll response from "never played one" to "maybe once!" And Zenge is in my backlog.
I enjoyed Refunct even though they took away a 100% by adding a speedrun achievement I'll never get but I don't think I'd enjoy Swarmlake. But somebody would!
Apparently I looked at Out There Somewhere and clicked on Not Interested (probably due to pixel graphics), but tbh taking a look at the trailer it doesn't look bad. Looks like a solid recommendation, even if I personally would probably never play it.
I can see Blitz Breaker having an audience, though I'm not in it. :p You lost me at "Meat Boy style" which is probably it's best selling point. :)

Thanks for a great contribution to the discussion!

5 years ago
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Zenge is actually excellent! I really enjoyed it! The other games mentioned by the same dev are also very good, and the achievements of course are a nice little bonus.

Out There Somewhere was surprisingly good!

5 years ago
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I wholeheartedly agree with the abstract puzzles, they are really, really good puzzles, and their superlow price really just adds to that ^^

5 years ago
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I played the puzzles games, they're nice.
These look interesting too but I don't have them yet.

5 years ago
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I loved Zenge! Was super pleasantly surprised, really enjoyable. Been meaning to check out their other games.

5 years ago
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Insurgency costs on sales around 1$ and i love it.

5 years ago
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I think I have only played 3 $1 games. I don't play many AAA games. I think the games I play the most and enjoy are indie or older games that cost around $5-$10.

Dungeon of Zolthan - This is a very short and simple game, but I enjoyed it. Most people probably beat it in around 40 minutes.
Save the Ninja Clan - It's a basic platformer. I found it enjoyable in the beginning, but started getting bored even though it only took 3 hours to beat.
UBERMOSH - I thought this was a horrible game.

5 years ago*
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Dungeon of Zolthan: gotta love that soundtrack! I'd suck at it, though. :p
Save the Ninja Clan: I hope anybody in this game checks the OP for giveaways.
UBERMOSH: Uh, yeah...thank you for helping me add to my Not Interested list. =)

5 years ago
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Sometimes I get bored by the AAA titles so to change the pace I play these games from time to time

5 years ago
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Tick Tock Isle

It's a really cool little hidden gem for 99c at full price. It's pretty short (I think it was around one hour) but nice and well crafted.

5 years ago
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Looks pretty cute-- a solid recommendation, and one I might actually enjoy! =)

5 years ago
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I just traded for this game. Onto the backlog it goes!

View attached image.
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On the bright side it's just an hour long so you should be able to remove it soon. I hope you'll like it ;)

5 years ago
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So I played this the last couple of days. Because I'm slow at everything it took me 2.6 hrs, not 1 hour, but whatever. :p
It was okay...I mean, for $0.99 it's definitely worth it, especially with five card drops. I spent most of my time running around the place, talking to everybody, looking for the little down-arrow "interact" icon, without a master plan (other than to check off the to-dos somehow). The final boss fight annoyed me...I really don't like retro platformers. But at least it didn't stay on my backlog for long! :)

Thanks for the recommendation!

5 years ago
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You're welcome :3

5 years ago
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Yeah, I've looked at that before (and didn't realize it was $1). But the art style and singing kinda turned me off...

5 years ago
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I enjoyed:
draw_love https://store.steampowered.com/app/654870/ (although it apparently is an asset flip, according to the Sentinels of the Store curator)
Out There Somewhere (already mentioned above)
12 Labours of Hercules (all its parts)
Tower defense games can be really cheap and some are quite good
Hook (puzzle game)
Hero of the Kingdom i and II (very casual RPG)

5 years ago
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The OP is about games that are $1 in the Steam store, because I was curious if people play them.

But Hook is a great suggestion, previously mentioned by Movac and I've actually even played it and enjoyed it! =)

5 years ago
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I play tons of them. And of my 400 Steam thorough reviews, I think 350+ refer to 0,99€ or 1,99€ games xD
I come from a long background of Flash gaming and I'm definitely used to those ones - I love small games in general, especially if they fit categories like puzzle, logic, tower defense, platformers, casual games in general and so on.
Unfortunately, I'd suggest to everyone who is into these games or more generally who's a casual player who doesn't have much time, to go on Kongregate, ArmorGames and NewGrounds. I prefer the first but they're all three awesome. And the games are all free, completely - you will find tons of Gemcraft, Incursion, Protector, Kingdom Rush, Cursed Treasure etc. games that will keep you there for ages.
On Steam, there are really little titles of those kinds (Gemcraft and Cursed Treasure are awesome series, but there are also awesome RPGs like the Mardek series, which is one of the most beautiful ever in my view).
I've been a long-time PC, C64, Sega and Nintendo player during all the '90s and the very beginning of the '00s, and now unfortunately I often have little time to play.
When I have time to play, I tend to close myself into a particular JRPG - it's by far my favourite genre, but of course as I said I played pretty much everything in those 12-13 years..
So, having little time now, due to family, work, health issues that I didn't have before, I tend to play and review small games.
I'd suggest you all the recommended games I've got on my list on Steam but if on one side you'll find Zup, Lines, tons of games.. well, on Kongregate you'll find Red Remover and many other games, often the same ones, but for free..
Not to talk about hidden objects and point and click adventures - love them. Reincarny anyone? XD
So I think in the end that Steam is awesome for what concerns "big" games. I took weeks of my life in order to play again after 10 or 15 years gems like the whole Final Fantasy series, and enjoyed a lot the Elder Scrolls, the new Final Fantasy titles, Doom & Destiny and many other RPGs or JRPGs, Idk, games like Transistor are worthy alone of having a Steam account.
But for what concerns 0,99€ games - I love them, but I'd suggest a casual player to search for them on Flash websites for free. You don't get really much more by playing them through Steam.

5 years ago
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Good point about going outside Steam for $1-ish games. There must be some real hidden gems there.

5 years ago
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Definitely - I spent my "life" xD on websites like Kongregate and the bad thing, often, is that you can find on Steam the exact same versions of a free Flash game that there costs 0,99€ or even 1,99€.. like the Incursion or Gemcraft games and many others, Bloons etc.. the "paid" Steam versions literally offer nothing different from those you can play outside Steam!

5 years ago
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Not a really one-dollar full price, but often on sale, Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death is always $ 1.00 USD tops, and is actually a really fun game to play. Now it's on sale on the Humble Store for $ 0.49 USD: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/marlow-briggs-and-the-mask-of-death

Another one that sometimes can be found near the $ 1.00 USD and it's a good game is Spec Ops: The Line: https://store.steampowered.com/app/50300/Spec_Ops_The_Line/

But to be honest, I've never found a one-dollar full priced game that it's actually worth the time (or the dollar) spent to play it.

5 years ago
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Yep, lots of good games can be acquired for $1 or less (especially with bundles), but it's hard (at least to me) to find a game I'd want to play that lists for $1.

And thanks for the tip about Marlow Briggs. I was thinking of picking up an extra copy (for reasons). Maybe I'll buy it there-- I even have $0.50 in my Humble Wallet!

5 years ago
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I have a small library on Steam and I cant find games there with base price lower then 3$. From my wishlist Montaro looks nice.

5 years ago
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No, I don't waste my time looking at shit diamond in the rough, let others do that . I only pay attention when:

  1. It shows up on https://steam250.com/hidden_gems
  2. Friends bought the game
  3. It shows up on some gaming sites

I like those old indie games, back when Steam still manually approve games (way back when greenlight doesn't have so many entries).
Floating point, gunpoint, shank, mark of the ninja, vvvvv, atom zombie smasher, spelunky, terraria, world of goo, one finger death punch.
Games from Adult Swim or Devolver Digital are nice too.
They're not one dollar, but it's close to $5 or less when it's on sale.

5 years ago
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Blood and Bacon is a really silly fun game if you have friends to play with. The dev is usually playing with fans or updating and it's a lot of fun for the price tag.

Bit Blaster XL is a fun arcade style game. It's easy to learn and pretty addicting.

Cats are Liquid this is a cute little platformer where you play a cat who gets abilities. It's worth the dollar a think.

Orion Prelude is a lot of fun but it can be glitchy and I've read that the devs have a bad reputation. If you ever just want to kill hoards of dinos with others though its a good dollar spent.

Tourists Kidnapped a Little Bear is a game where you play a momma bear who must get her baby back from the kidnappers. Basically you are timed and you have to kill everyone by the time the timer runs out.

The Deed has a lot of replay value and choices to make. It may be rpg-maker but for a dollar its actually a well made game.

If I think of more I'll update :P

5 years ago
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Yeah, I'm not much into multiplayer games, especially action games. I even had Orion at one point but removed it from my library. But some of those look like good recommendations for those who are!
The Deed is in my library, so I must have thought enough of it to activate it (and not later delete it). Good choice!
I started to think, "maybe Tourists Kidnapped a Little Bear would be fun for the kids!" but then I took a closer look... oO
Cats Are Liquid does look decent, though it did make it to my Not Interested pile.

Thanks for the contribution to the discussion!

5 years ago
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Yeah the Deed probably won't sway you but I just added it since it fits the topic :)

After looking at all my beaten games, it's really hard to find good dollar games. The ones on my list aren't great but they are decent for the price :)

5 years ago
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I have Cats Are Liquid on my phone, never knew it was on PC as well. Thanks. Amusing game, especially if you like platformers.

The Deed is still available for $0.01 via the Humble Widget. For anyone thinking of getting it, thread is here: https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/8oBcv/humblebundle-the-deed-cat-interstellar-or-space-pilgrim-ep1-for-001

5 years ago
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What diamonds in the rough are there?

Get the gems. - plays and looks like Boulder Dash / Emerald Mine. Really good!

Splatter - twin stick shooter with zombies. It has couple of bugs, but nothing game-breaking. Beside that - pure fun.

Probably some more but those were good enough to remember their names without searching xD
Also I'm not sure but I bought bundle for 1$ that had 4 copies of Insurgency - and it's a decent team fps.

5 years ago*
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5 years ago
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Guess I don't need STEAM anymore xD

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love that gif

5 years ago
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Yikes...those are both definitely not my kind of games (although mowing over zombies with a tractor looked fun). Each to his own! =)

5 years ago
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Super House of Dead Ninjas is 0,69€ right now, although at a discount. It's a game I had fun with a while ago.

Downwell is 3 euros full price and it's great, but maybe that's going too much over 1. Anyway, it's a great cheap game, a sort of diamond in the rough.

But I read your post, about bundle cheap stuff... I don't really know.
I'd usually rather play free games too, since most people who really put effort into their games charge a bit more and most of the 1-2$ games are low effort shovelware.

5 years ago
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Hmm interesting, I will have to think on this for a bit.

However, for now I can and will 100% recommend Pinkman. Most of the $0.99 puzzle games I play for a few levels but rarely complete so I will not mention any of these...

5 years ago
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Shan Gui!

Awe wasn't too bad

Edit: Reversion - The Escape (1st Chapter) used to be free but now it is $.99

5 years ago
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Hmm, Shan Gui used to be $2 I think. I have it unplayed in my library.
Awe reminds me of Mountain, which I might have played, but removed from my library when they added achievements, some of which were based on very rare events.
Reversion looks decent, but Chapter 2 is $5. So maybe it's $1 for half a game?

Thanks for the post!

5 years ago
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Bump!
Yet another zombie defense - currently you can grab it for free but it's <1$. There is also HD version also <1$
And it's typical twin stick zombie shooter xD I enjoyed it - but you have to like the genre because almost all of those games are almost the same.

5 years ago
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Planes, Bullets and Vodka - A nice 30 minutes of fun. Not much for long-term enjoyment though.
Payroll - Such a fun, dumb game. Basically you're playing an office adventure thing. It's in Win 95 style too, so that's quite interesting.

Flesh Eaters - It's 2€, but it's definitely way better than most $1 games. A fun tactical zombie survival game. You control a squad with whom you complete missions. I had a lot of fun with it.

5 years ago
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Payroll makes my eyes bleed, but I guess that's sort of the point. :p

5 years ago
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Blood & Bacon is pretty decent.

5 years ago
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Fortix is the only acceptable answer here.

Unless you're a masochist... in that case go for Bad Rats: the Rats' Revenge.

5 years ago
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How could I forget Bad Rats! Oh right...I was looking for good games! :p
And yes-- Fortix looks like a great example. I have it in my backlog and would like to play it.

5 years ago
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Bad Rats is now among the better half of the Steam library.
And I wish I was joking.

5 years ago
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All 3 Nickervision Studios, and this month there will be 3 new games:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/5911/Arcade_Bundle__Nickervision_Studios__Purchase_Together/

5 years ago
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That's a few votes/mentions of Bit Blaster XL now. Not my kind of game, but looks like a good recommendation!

5 years ago
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Closed 5 years ago by trentjaspar.